Bank of America Employee Petitions Against Video ATM’s

The petitioner says tellers will lose their jobs as a result of the new ATM’s in favor of lower-wage call center tellers.

Alex Shalom, a teller at a Bank of America branch in New York City, has started an online petition protesting the bank’s adoption of video ATM kiosks, according to various media reports.

Bank of America plans to use the video ATM’s to replace in-branch tellers like himself with call center employees who will be paid a lower wage, Shalom claims in his petition, which has gotten more than a 1,000 signatures.

“Being a bank teller is all about building a personal connection with our customers, something that I couldn’t do through a video screen,” Shalom says in the petition. “My coworkers and I care about meeting the needs of our customers, and we deserve to make a decent wage while doing so.”

A Bank of America spokesperson told ABC News that there is no difference in pay between the bank’s in-branch tellers and call center tellers, and said the bank has no plans of cutting in-branch teller jobs.

The bank has now deployed its video ATM’s that allow customers to communicate with a remote teller in 61 locations across the country, according to reports.

Bank of America has closed 183 branches over the last 12 months - more than any other major bank in the U.S., according to a recent report by SNL Financial. Brian Moynihan, the bank’s CEO, said in a recent interview that the bank has now cut its branches from 6,100 down to 5,400, and has plans to reduce those down to 5,000.

Jonathan Camhi has been an associate editor with Bank Systems & Technology since 2012. He previously worked as a freelance journalist in New York City covering politics, health and immigration, and has a master's degree from the City University of New York's Graduate School ... View Full Bio

Look its inevitable. When technology can help there is no point dragging on to the way it used to be in dinosaur age. Where as people losing job should not be there. Well Banks would probably find out a way to utilize the bandwidth rescued from the teller workforce to utilize it in a better way. I don't mind being served by a video teller. It opens up possibilities like servicing in a remote town where there are no branches.

I can see Dr. Rubin's point. Although I said earlier that I didn't like the idea of video ATMs, I do understand why banks want to do more with their investment in ATMs. They could have their upsides - as Nate pointed out earlier, the video ATMs do provide a way for people to perform transactions after banks close, which is a pretty big plus.

That's an interesting point by Dr. Rubin. With the evolution of mobile in banking, banks keep finding new ways to leverage smartphones, and I think that that innovation is extending other channels like online and ATM, where banks are finding new ways to leverage channels that have been around for a while.

That's a good point Nate. If the video screen and audio is high quality, then this is an option that customers might prefer to using the call center when they need to talk to their bank during after-hours.

Pretty much. Some of the models that I've seen look a lot like regular ATM's but with an extra video screen for the video conferencing capability. One thing is that they definitely have to be in a more private setting than your typical ATM. Nobody wants to have a conversation with a bank expert about their accounts or finances with a line of people standing behind them waiting to get cash out of the ATM.

I wrote a story last year about how banks are trying to provide the feel of that personal touch that you get in a branch in their online, mobile and social interactions with customers. It's something that banks are still trying to figure out, but will be key if they keep closing branches.

Yes as long as credit unions are able to keep up with their online and mobile offerings, they will definitely have a competitive advantage of the big bank with a branch down the street closes that branch. Having the closest branch to a customer still means a lot when that customer chooses a bank.

I haven't seen a setup, but I imagine these video-ATMS set up like the self checkouts at big retailers and grocery stores. Some prefer them, others do not, and they usually require some sort of oversight by an employee. Is that the case with these?